Ajax got their campaign for a fifth straight Eredivisie title off to a great start as they hammered Vitesse 4-1 in the Amsterdam Arena.

  • By Michael Bell
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111viergeThe opening half hour of the match was open, with Kelvin Leerdam missing a great opportunity to give Vitesse the lead, while Kenneth Vermeer had to make a great stop to deny Zakaria Labyad’s header. At the other end Ricardo Kishna could only fire straight at Piet Velthuizen when through on goal.

On 40 minutes the deadlock was broken by Nick Viergever, who fired first time into the bottom corner from the edge of the box after ghosting through the Vitesse defence.

Three minutes into the second half Ajax made it 2-0 with Lasse Schone’s rifling a thunderous free-kick into the net past a wrong-footed Velthuizen. Ajax were now playing with a swagger and Mike van der Hoorn netted a third as the defender rose above his marker to head powerfully into the top corner.

Vitesse pulled a goal back when Marko Vejinovic was allowed to race through a parting Ajax defence before firing past Kenneth Vermeer. Just before full time it was 4-1 with youngster Anwar El Ghazi setting up Schone to net his second of the game from close range.

It is the perfect start to the season for Ajax, who have laid down a marker to all their rivals, while Vitesse will need to add a few extra players to their squad if they are to challenge at the top, especially a new forward.




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